HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



55 



the country in another capacity; 

 but he felt himself compelled, by his 

 duty, to support the motion of ^Ir. 

 Pitt. 



Mr. Sheridan did not consider 

 that hearsay evidence, from ol^iccrs 

 who were -on shore, and unemploy- 

 ed, was evidence sufficient to rest a 

 serious accusation against lord St. 

 Vincent. He never knew any per- 

 son for whom every body protest so 

 much respect, and who was, at the 

 same time, so much aspersed as that 

 nobleman. The grounds, however, 

 of the respect which was profcst 

 were notorious to all the w orld ; 

 whereas, the grounds upon which he 

 was aspersed remained still in dark- 

 ness. He should not vote for a 

 scrap of paper to found an enquiry 

 on, when he was convinced that 

 there was no necessity for such en- 

 quiry. This was the first time he 

 had ever opposed an enquiry : but 

 he was convinced that there were no 

 facts to warrant it, or to account 

 for the great change of opinion in 

 the right honourable gentleman 

 (Mr. Pitt) since the time when he 

 bestowed the warmest panegyric 

 upon the noble lord. He saw no good 

 purpose that it could answer, at pre- 

 sent, to institute a comparison be- 

 tween lord St. Vincent and lord 

 Spenser. As to the number of gun- 

 boats that the honourable mover 

 stilted to have been very suddenly 

 equipped, during the last war, they 

 were of such a quality, that naval 

 men despised them, and thought them 

 good for nothing, and the greater 

 j)art of them were sold for almost no- 

 thing, when the war was over. Such 

 gun-boats as those would be injuri- 

 ous to the service, by requiring men 

 '"which could be much better employ- 

 ed. Men of war and frigates were 

 better even for defence ; for it was 



well known, that from Pevcnsey to 

 Dungeness, a man of war might an- 

 chor close to the shore. He thought 

 it would be absurd, all at once, to 

 give up that species of naval force 

 which had been so long our pride 

 and glory, and substitute another, 

 which all naval men thought lightly 

 of. It was said, that the right ho- 

 nourable gentleman gave, about .-ix 

 months ago, at a volunteer dinner, 

 the following sentiment : " The vo- 

 lunteers of England, and may we 

 soon have a meeting with the enemy 

 on our own shores." This senti- 

 ment might be much assisted, in the 

 execution, by substituting the ho- 

 nourable gentleman's favourite gnn- 

 boats, for our ships of the line and 

 frigates. Formerly the character of 

 the noble lord was attacked only by 

 disappointed and fraudulent con- 

 tractors. Such enemies as those he 

 despised : but, high as was the au- 

 thority of the mover, he trusted 

 that the character of the noble lord 

 stood too high, in the estimation of 

 the country, to be hurt by mere as- 

 sertions or opinions, from whatever 

 quarter they might proceed. 



Mr. Fox, at the same time that 

 he professed to feel as much respect 

 as any man for the professional cha- 

 racter of lord St. Vincent, consi- 

 dered, that the best way thathc could 

 shew that respect, was to vote for 

 the present enquiry. He im.agined, 

 that the result of such a proceeding 

 would be, to clear the chara6ter of 

 lord St. Vincent from all kind of 

 censure or suspicion. lie was not 

 surprised at the coarse which minis- 

 ters had taken, in resisting the en- 

 quiry. Thev had wi>hed to put the 

 character of lord St. Vincent on a 

 level with their own, and to set a 

 precedent lor resisting other enqui- 

 ries. F'or lord St. Vincent he not 



E 3 only 



